The bane of the Heretic, Witch, Xenos… And anyone Mikhailovich doesn't like.

Good morning! I apologize for the hiatus — My life has been busy negotiating the mess that is college, summer jobs, religious obligations, and four younger brothers, as well as a surge of productivity with respect to Dungeons and Dragons, but I am back with the Emperor and his agents (for the time being).

As you may or may not have noticed, Games Workshop has revamped Warhammer 40k and has begun a new global campaign. This makes right now a particularly interesting time for me to get back into the hobby, as both of these things are changes I have been clamoring for for some time. The new Warhammer 40k keywords system allows me to actually field a crusade force drawing on armies from across the Imperium, which I fully plan to do, and the campaign provides me with an inspiration to both buy and paint new models.

So, all of this in mind, here’s what you can expect from my immediate hobby future:

Actual models for the majority of the Darkside Crusade, as well as a rapidly expanding roster! I am currently trying to decide whether to address my relatively small plans for an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator Fleet or my fairly ambitious plans for a massive Guard Regiment first (frankly, I need help with the decision), but thanks to the Fate of Konor Campaign, expect to see a Start Collecting! box of some sort in the near future.

Lots of posts are going to be incoming, as I cut down, streamline, and rephotograph my Deathwatch, redesign Inquisitor Mikhailovich, and of course, take place in the Fate of Konor Campaign. I might even put together a battle report or two, depending on if/when I have the chance to make it into my FLGS.

An actual roster file is going to come up soon as well, because I have plans for everything from Inquisition and Deathwatch to Adepta Sororitas and Assassinorum to Rogue Traders and (dare I say it) T’au in the works.

Hopefully this is interesting to some of you!

However, because I know some of us just look at hobby blogs for the pretty pictures, here are some of my Deathwatch Techmarine, Ronin “Monger” Sycrax of the Iron Angels, who recently won me a painting contest at my FLGS. I’ve since gotten a Servo-Harness for him, but I have yet to paint it up:

Good evening, all. This is a short and long overdue update on my hobby efforts.

First, I wish to let you know that, as soon as I can find a viable camera, I will have a lot to share with you – enough to justify at least three posts. I have a fair amount of both Terminator and Power Armour painted, and two or three more major projects that are currently underway.

Second, I am putting together a playlist of the songs that I find helpful when I am writing Warhammer 40k fluff, and, if I can figure out how to do so, I will be posting it here. Watch for that.

Finally, I want to let you all know that I am officially broke. I will continue to post updates as long as I have unpainted plastic to work with, but if/when I run out, I will be limited to story segments, which is why I intend to stretch my current projects as far as I can.

+++A message to the Ordo Lords of the Ordo Xenos Conclave of Holy Terra+++

My Lords,

It has come to my attention that the Segmentum Pacificus has some systems that are, at this time, barely within the control of the Imperium. Specifically of concern to me are the sleeping Necrontry of the Dearthsun sector, not to mention the myriad marks of other xenos and potential chaos influence that have also been reported to exist within the sector and yet been ignored. Such challenges to our supremacy within our own borders cannot be tolerated.

I am aware that my methods are deemed Excomunicate by certain individuals. I am also aware that my mentor, Andrikkus Vadiston, bears sway even in death.

As I follow only those courses of action that would have been approved by Inquisitor Vadiston, I hereby request dismissal from the constraints of the Ordo and the Conclave with permission to organize a crusade, one which will operate in darkness. I request a demicompany of Deathwatch and the support of the Kassilon 676th Phantom Regiment. I will take this force and destroy the sleeping Necrontyr worlds of the Dearthsun Sector.

Regardless of permission, I will see the formation of this crusade and the completion of its goal. I advise that you comply as, should I succeed, my purity in the Emperor’s cause will be wholly proven, and, should I fail, you are spared the trouble of executing me.

With much debate, the Lords of the Ordo Xenos have seen fit to approve your request for a crusade, and, with it, the rank of Lord Inquisitor you have long craved.

You have been given your shield.

Come back with it…

…or on it.

Lord Inquisitor Desalion Varth

+++Seal: Inquisitorial+++

As promised previously, I have been redesigning my fluff. This has included, as a start, a complete force roster, including models that I already have and my goals for the eventual force. A viewable version is attached here. Note that those who commented on my previous post have had their marines included.

Introduction

Today’s post is a little different than most, because Games Workshop’s most recent release is a little different from most. It’s sort of a “State of the Union” address about my Inquisition army.

Specifically, in a move that is only paralleled by last years AdMech release, Games Workshop has taken a “lore only” faction and made it into a full scale, playable army.

However, unlike the AdMech, the emergence of a Codex and Models for the Deathwatch has a profound effect upon my existing army.

Part 1: A History

The Deathwatch have been arguably my favorite faction since my earliest days of 40k. The Iron Hands and Adeptus Mechanicus both put up fights conceptually, but both were even more poorly represented than the Deathwatch were, and would have required significantly more skill to assemble well.

In addition to skill limitations, my budget cut me down. As such, the only way I could afford a sizable army was to focus on bundles – which, at the time, kept me to Dark Vengeance models and those I could get second hand, which would have been even harder to convert to Iron Hands.

At first, I settled for counts-as, but that rapidly became dissatisfying, especially compared to some of the gamers at my local GW store, who had what seemed to be entire companies of accurate to art Ultramarines, Blood Angels, and Crimson Fists. By comparison, a small contingent of Iron Hands without a single bionic limb felt almost like cheating.

About that point in time, someone gave me this book –

In it is a short story called “Headhunted” that focuses on the Deathwatch. It was love at first read.

I immediately set about converting my Dark Angels to Deathwatch, cutting off shoulder pads, and then stagnated for a period as I flirted with the Red Thirst and Black Rage (specifically, my brother convinced me to split Deathstorm with him).

That is the state my army was at as of six months ago.

Part 2: The Beginning of the End

Early this year, a new boxed game was released entitled Deathwatch: Overkill, featuring the title faction arrayed against another fan favorite faction that had been ignored for years: the Genestealer Cult.

I couldn’t believe my luck when my girlfriend at the time grabbed it for my birthday (she’s on a year and a half long religious mission to Germany now, before anyone asks what happened).

At the time, I assumed that the box would be the only thing the faction would get – a few unique models and dataslates sold to appease hobbyists like myself. As such I adjusted my lore to accommodate a Deathwatch Kill Team and creating the Conclave Exilius to contain my partially destroyed Dark Vengeance models.

This was the start of an overly complex phase in the force of my Inquisition, including combined elements of no fewer than four Codexes and a poorly charted use of counts-as to maximize my models, which is at least partially demonstrated in my Mikhailovichan Guard, where a regiment of Imperial Guard Stormtroopers (Tempestus Scions for newbies ) is represented partially by Space Marine Scouts.

Games Workshop, however, cannot simply let anything so complex lie, which leaves me glad that my Dark Vengeance models were still unconverted by this previous month.

Part 3: The Drop

This past month, the Deathwatch jumped from a boxed game, to two boxed games, to a full blown faction.

The models are simply beautiful, and so I am faced with a series of conundrums:

Should I attempt to convert my Dark Vengeance models into Deathwatch, in line with the new Codex, using some of the new bits?

Should I attempt to sell my old models and just go full in with the new ones?

Should I keep the Phantom Regiment/Mikhailovichan Guard, sell them, or align them with my Blood Angels?

The questions were particularly difficult because, whatever I did, it needed to somehow fit in my budget and still look good when deployed alongside my converted models of Killteam Cassius, which would be no mean feat.

Ultimately, for the sake of my wallet and with the donation of bits from a few friends, I decided that the answers were yes, no, and keep them.

However, this necessitates some adjustments to my lore and army, which will be detailed below.

Part 4: Tzeench Would Be Proud

This all necessitates some great change.

First and foremost, the Conclave Exilius is being declared “non-canon,” as all the models it pertained to are being re-purposed as Deathwatch.

Second, the Mikhailovichan Guard are going to reduced to simply the Phantom Regiment. They will be tied to the Deathwatch by alliance, rather than through the Inquisitor, with the idea that Deathwatch Master of the Forge Ronin Sycrax sought their alliance as a way of filling the stealth role that Scouts play in a normal Space Marine Chapter. They will be removed from my gameplay list entirely until I have more Scion specific models to bulk out the force.

Third, the Redemptus Accords are going to be heavily rewritten, which will be something to watch for. Every Marine in the force (which numbers nearly a demi-company) will have his own bio and the force as a whole will be streamlined. This part is in progress.

There is good coming of this, however, as many newly painted models will be finding their way onto the blog in the near future.

I will leave you with the Apocryphon Oath, the swearing in of the Deathwatch. If you wish to be represented among my force, subscribe and then comment the Oath, planting your own Marine-esque name and Chapter where appropriate, and I will add you to my roster.

Hark ye, who are pure in the eyes of the Emperor. Hark now, as I, your loyal Orator, recite this, the Apocryphon Oath, of one of His most holy Space Marines.

Let it be known by all dominions, powers and authorities, that the bearer of this seal, Brother <name> of the <Chapter>, has taken the most sacred Apocryphon Oath, and has been seconded to the Deathwatch until such time of his death, or until the specifics of his oath shall be considered and proclaimed to be discharged.

On the honor of your chapter, your Primarch, and the Emperor, you are sworn to destroy the Alien, confront the myriad enemies of the imperium, and obey the most solemn vows of the Apocryphon Conclave. You will watch in the dark places, you will safeguard the night, and annihilate the vile xenos and bring unto them the judgment of mankind. You will stand as the bulwark upon which the Imperium persists, from now, unto the ending of the universe.

The bearer of this oath will be accorded the utmost honor in word and deed. Let all know that the gaze of the Emperor and the blessed Primarchs shall follow the bearer wherever he deigns to tread, so that even in death, they shall know his name.

So it is sealed, by word, blood and deed, by the grace of the Apocryphon Conclave, the Deathwatch, and the Senatorum Imperialis.

To be Unclean that is the Mark of the Xenos

To be Impure that is the Mark of the Xenos

To be Abhorred That is the Mark of the Xenos

To be Reviled That is the Mark of the Xenos

To be Hunted That is the Mark of the Xenos

To be Purged That is the fate of the Xenos

To be Cleansed For that is the fate of all Xenos

We bring justice by sword, by shell, by flame. In his name, suffer not the alien to live!

Today’s is a little bit less glamorous of a post than the previous two. ((Note, also may very well be obsolete in a few days, with the recent Deathwatch release and all, which might dominate my army. But more on that later.))

In all honesty, while these guys aren’t Space Marines or Inquisitors, they ARE some of the models that I am the most pleased with in my hobby past. (Also, I apologize for the grainy group shot. The camera I have at the moment isn’t the best.)

I’ve decided on three major squad types for this force – Primary –

Assault –

and Sniper.

Hopefully you should recognize all the models here, even if they’re being used as Imperial Guard. The Sniper and Assault Squads were both converted from Space Marine Scout squad kits.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

The Primary type squad is the least converted, because I purchased the squad online at a steep discount, which was available because the models were already assembled.

These guys are pretty standard Tempestus Scions models – left to right, a meltagunner, a voxman, a Sergeant, a lasgunner, and another meltagunner.

I’m quite pleased with the paint on these guys, enough, at least, that I am still proud of them, in spite of the complete lack of conversions.

However, beyond a little pretty paint, there isn’t much to see here.

So here’s the Sniper Squad, probably the five most consistently converted models in my force.

These are literally five generic bolter scouts, at their hearts (with the obvious exception of the guy with the pink mohawk and braid. More on him later.).

The recipe for these rifles is brilliantly simple and was initially devised by a friend of mine to represent Deathwatch “Stalker” pattern boltguns for games of Deathwatch following the rules available on Heralds of Ruin.

Because it is so simple and elegant at the same time, I figured I’d share it. I don’t have pictures of the process at the moment, but if a few people are interested I may put together a tutorial.

Simply put, you get a thin drill bit and, after removing the standard bolter muzzle, drill about a quarter of an inch into the bolter in its place. You then superglue a toothpick in the hole and cut it to your desired length and wrap the end in a small strip of masking tape to form the new muzzle. A dot of superglue on the end will seal it permanently.

The scopes are built using the same method – a cut toothpick, two small strips of masking tape, and a dot of superglue on each. Another small slice of toothpick serves as the rail on which the scope rests.

And there you have it!

The explanation for the guy with the braid is that, at the point in time where I was converting/painting these models, my younger brother was just getting into Warhammer 40k playing Chaos. I could not bear to see him fall so, and so I decided that do a model in tribute to his good side. The pink hair is due to the fact that he’s constantly changing his hair color and style in real life.

I had hoped to seduce him back to the light, but, seeing as he is now playing Tyranids in addition to his Chaos Space Marines, I think I’ve failed. Regardless, Sergeant Lebrus is a very cool looking model, and I’m pleased one way or the other.

Finally, we have the assault squad.

These guys are probably the most characterful. The helmets are from the Eisenkern Stormtroopers from DreamForge Games. Note that they aren’t heroic scale, so they won’t quite fit with Guardsmen, but the heads are truly gorgeous.

These two guys flanking the Sergeant are supposed to look like they are in the thick of combat, and I think I relatively succeeded. I particularly like the knife wielding guy on the far left.

The Heavy Bolter guy feel slightly dopey to me, but not too bad.

And a fantastic Shot-Gun trooper twisting at the waist to blow something’s face off.

Again, the guy on the left is one of my favorites. The Sergeant is the best model in the quad though.

This model was the first one I ever ((successfully)) sculpted greenstuff on.

Granted, it’s just that little cable for the Lightning Claw, but it is enough that I’m rather proud.

The story there is that I wanted my Scout Sergeant to actually take advantage of the ability of a Veteran Sergeant to take weapons from the Space Marine armoury, so I cut the Lightning Claw’s shoulder attachment off and spliced it onto a Scout shoulder pad. However, that left a gap between the existing wiring and the shoulder/back pack, necessitating the sculpting.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with the Guard, even if there is a chance that they may be written out of my fluff.

Alright! I have more eye candy today, because I’m either incredibly productive or not productive at all.

Part 1: Facelifts

As a few readers commented previously, my first couple Deathwatch models were rather dark. I’ve tried to remedy this with some bright detailing. I’m not entirely sure if I’m satisfied, so be sure to let me know what you think!

This is the one I’m least sure about, as I feel that the incredibly light blue severely jeopardizes the quiet, dark menace that the model had previously. I am very happy with the darker blue feathers, though.

I really like the “sapphire” skull on the chestplate.

I am quite pleased with this one. I think the additional red brightens the model nicely without being overpowering.

Michael Garyos got the simplest additions – the Guardians of the Covenant crossed swords freehanded on his cloak, and a black background added to his Chapter pauldron (I realized that I had done the scheme partially incorrectly).

I brightened up Velthro’s heraldry and added blue to the inverted omegas. The additions grow on me a little each time I see them, I think.

All in all, not bad, insofar as touch ups are concerned!

Part 2: Fresh Blood

I also have several new models for you today!

First up is my Librarian, Jax Dearthsun.

Here he is with a couple squad mates.

I decided that he’s a member of the Angels of Sorrow Chapter, instead of whatever I initially identified him as in the Files Inquisitae, which allows me to take a very different take on the Blood Ravens iconography on his legs – particularly the winged blood drop on the left shin, which becomes a winged tear drop.

The shoulder pad is a stylized version of Sanguinius (the actual bit came from the Death Company). My infantile lore for the Chapter is that they revere the Primarchs as a pantheon of deities, with the Emperor at their head, and that the Chapter is specifically dedicated to following Sanguinius. I’m toying with the idea that they may have been disowned by their parent Chapter and be seeking Sanguinius’ approval as a way of reentering what they view as the fold of “Chosen” Marine Chapters.

I swung his right arm upwards slightly, because the standard “arms down and screaming” librarian pose is overused and relatively boring. This, however, gives him a sense of being in combat, which I really like.

I quite like the contrast between the green of his Chapter colors and the blue of the Librarius. I think he readily identifies as both Deathwatch and a Librarian, which is awesome.

I’m not quite sure if I like to Force Sword detailing or not. It’s always seemed a little silly to me, not to mention difficult to paint.

This last picture has him compared to my two other Librarians. The far left was my first, and the center was my second. The broken Grey Knight teleporter backpack irks me every time I see it… Ah well. I quite like the recipe I came up with for balancing the blue that marks the models as Librarians with their Chapter colors – gauntlets. torso, part of the backpack, thighs, and boots blue, everything else as per normal. I think it’s simple but effective.

Now, I need a little help – I can’t decide if I’d rather he be a biomancer like the Librarian in the box, or a diviner. He would either have the wall name of “Quicksilver” or “Seer” respectively, but, honestly, he could be of any discipline with a suitably honest name. Post your thoughts and suggestions in the comments!

Second, we have the Space Wolf.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really liked Space Wolves. They’ve always seemed like they were trying too hard to be awesome. Exhibit a –

Regardless, I had a model, and I didn’t want to waste it. I decided to try and emulate Black Panther from Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, and thus came up with the Great Company of the Silent Hunt, a subdivision of the Space Wolves who focus on elegance and assassination.

I give you Bress Silkpaw.

The goal with the tabard was to do something slightly different and make it a sort of snow wolf pelt, but the jury’s still out as to whether or not I’ve succeeded.

The head is a Sanguinary Guard Death Mask with a Winter Soldier style mask sculpted over the mouth, and I am very proud of it. I tried to use colors that would tie Bress to Eryk, given that in my fluff they’re close friends.

Other than that, I feel that there isn’t much to say here, so moving right along.

Third, we have “Wrecker” Cyryander, my Dorn’s Vambrace marine. In all honesty, I am quite pleased with this model, which surprises me, given that there’s next to no conversion work on him and I’ve never been a huge fan of the Fists or any of their successors.

The laurel wreath on the model’s shoulder was taken from Cassius’ backpack. It’s the only conversion work on the model, unfortunately, primarily for a lack of bits.

I painted the backpack with leadbelcher, because I find that the paint has a very nice industrial look, very fitting of both a heavy weapon and of a son of Dorn.

For the first time I can remember, I’m reasonably satisfied with the bone color on the Servo Skull.

From a fluff standpoint, this guy is the one who first introduces the rest of the Squad to the concept of wall names, which I first found in the novel “I Am Slaughter” by Dan Abnett. The idea is that each Fist gets given a name from their brothers that characterizes how they behave in battle – “Killshot,” “Severance,” or, indeed, “Slaughter.” I quite liked the concept and have given each model in the squad such a name.

Fourth, we have the biker, Walsh “Striker” Khan of the Flash Knights Chapter.

In all honesty, while he’s far from my favorite model in the squad, I’m quite happy with him.

My goal was for him to read as a bitter veteran, the kind of warrior who feels superior to others, but is at least partially vindicated in that belief. He’s an indispensable asset and he knows it, and as such he tends to push the line as to what’s acceptable and what isn’t, hence the unorthodox wargear and accouterments. This was at least partially to help me remain interested in the model, but also to explain the slightly stranger elements of the model.

The Tyranid head isn’t finished and I have yet to decide if I’m going to give the model an alternative shoulder pad or not. The head, unlike the pad, which is waiting on bits, is waiting for my brother to lock in a color scheme for his Tyranids, if you catch my drift. 😉

The story behind the helmet on the back (and the helmetless model, which is a Games Workshop trend I despise) is that Walsh has something of a death wish ever since he was too slow to reinforce a particular squad of his brothers. The helmet belonged to the squad’s sergeant, and Walsh carries it into every battle as a reminder of what he views as his one true failure.

Possibly my favorite element of the models is the shield on the back of the bike. I just wish it were an actual piece of equipment in the game, instead of mere decoration.

I honestly thought I was going to hate this model, but the more I worked with it, the more I realized that it has managed to overcome my biggest complaint about Space Marine Bikes – the reclining look of the riders.

Those aren’t speed demons – if anything they look silly! Call me ridiculous, but I much prefer the nearly horizontal look of the riders from Tron Legacy’s Light Cycles.

Say what you like about the movie itself, the bikes are gorgeous. Their design conveys the sheer speed that the rider is traveling with a real sense of motion and danger, which is something that Space Marine bikes always failed to do for me.

However, the Jetek Suberei sculpt has a slightly hunched over look, which, combined with his topknot, the tilt of the bike, and the extended sword, actually works in my mind.

You probably noticed that the cyber-eagle is missing.

That’s because I’m planning on using it on Inquisitor Mikhailovich at some point, a la Inquisitor Coteaz.

Anyways, the fifth and final new model for this post is Io “Gorestorm” Sylvus, with arguably both the most involved conversion of the squad and easily the most violent wall name of the bunch (unless you count “Shredder,” a Flesh Tearer Marine who, at this point, exists only in WIP fluff and has no model form at present).

Anyways, here the Son of Sanguinius is, for your enjoyment.

Probably the most obvious change to the model is the presence of a Death Mask instead of the original head. While I cannot simply discard the original after Kraut Scientist so lovingly lauded its sculpt, I didn’t like it on this particular model, and I needed to communicate my piece of fluff that this guy was a Sanguinary Guard. Exchanging the old head for the Death Mask handled both birds with one stone.

Slightly less obvious but the source of significantly greater pride, I managed to modify the left arm with some careful cutting and some greenstuff to extend its angle slightly. Between this effort and the head swap, I manged to solve my biggest gripe with the model. The original appeared to be holding its hand flamer to its stomach and be yelling over the top of it, while mine appears to be using the flamer as it lands, an aesthetic I prefer immensely.

This guy is intentionally very different from Eryk Sylven. I wanted them to be potentially the two least similar models in the squad, almost like sun and moon. As such, where Eryk is predominantly silver, Io has plentiful gold.

For the Chapter symbol I gave him a black background, a gold foreground, and a red blood drop. This is a significant divergence from the original Blood of the Aquilla Chapter heraldry I devised for my Blood Angels army, but is much more striking and will probably be added to most of the models in it in the relatively near future.

I’m never quite sure what to do with the back side of a Jump Pack.

As you may recall, I used some Blood Angel shoulder pad ornaments on Chaplain Velthro’s helmet, which left me with two blood drop jewels left over. One was added to the twelve o’clock position of the Death Mask, while the second found use on the side of the hand flamer, as you can see above.

Personally, I think the model is one of the best in the squad, perhaps because I painted him last.

As it currently stands, here is the full squad –

With closeups because the group picture is so bad –

I’m quite pleased with them, but, as always, comments and criticism are welcome! Thoughts on my fluff are appreciated every bit as much as thoughts on my models, so be sure to include those as well!

So, this is incredibly exciting for me – for the first time in almost a year (and certainly the first time since I started this blog), I have some brand new, converted and painted plastic crack to donate to the Internet’s vast repertoire of Warhammer 40k models.

I could say a few words or rant or gush, but I think it would be more appropriate to jump straight to the eye candy, don’t you?

As such, here is the first model.

This guy isn’t technically new, but I felt it was important that he be one of the first models posted on my blog – this is Inquisitor Mikhailovich, my warlord. The kitbash/conversion was heavily inspired by one of Kraut Scientist’s old Inq28 models. While I prefer his model in all honesty, I am perfectly satisfied with the way Mikhailovich turned out.

His weapons are a little different – I chose to go with a wrist mounted flame cannon of some sort and a power halberd. Both are based on Grey Knight arms, and both are magnetized. I don’t currently have alternative arms to swap for them, although I would like to replace the flamer with something more elegant eventually.

One thing that I’m particularly happy with is the helmet. It gives his armour a very archaic feel that most Warhammer 40k armour doesn’t have, while still retaining the feeling that it might have been designed in the future (relative to the twenty-teens we’re in now). In all honesty, it’s mildly heretical – with much bargaining, I obtained the helmet from my brother’s Chaos Raptors/Warp Talon sprue.

One thing that you can’t see particularly well here is his right shoulder pad, which came from the old metal Deathwatch upgrade sprue and has an Inquisitorial “=I=” on it, with which I am very pleased.

However, what we’re here to see is not the Inquisitor, though I suspect that I will have to do a post dedicated to him in the future. What we’re here to see are the Space Marines who protect him through the most intense battles, when the Mikhailovichan Guard (I should have a post about them with plastic crack eye candy in the next couple weeks) are deemed insufficient. I am speaking, of course, of Killteam Technetium, the Redemptus Accords.

I have only completed four of the eleven models I received as part of the Deathwatch: Overkill box from my girlfriend for my past birthday (I sent the Tyranids on to my younger brother, which means he owes her thanks as well) in the past couple days. Five more are partially completed, stalled by a lack of gold paint, and two more are sitting in compartmentalized boxes, pending conversion bits.

However, let’s get down to it, shall we?

First up is my use of the Ortan Cassius model to create Chaplain Cassius Velthro of the Aquamarines, a direct successor of the Ultramarines.

Honestly, this may be my favorite model I’ve ever converted.

There isn’t much to say other than that he’s awesome. i did give him a different back pack and then spliced the Ultramarines symbol onto his Crozius.

My favorite part of the model is the helmet though.

I took the two wing decals from the Blood Angels Death Company kit, cut the blood drops off, and then glued them to either side of Vael Donatus’ helmet from the box (I’m not using him as an Ultramarine, so any wargear with Ultramarines’ heraldry is a no go). It creates a rather nice Aquila look, and also form a nice bit of consistency – the backpack and Crozius both have wings flanking inverted Omegas, so adding the wings does the same thing to the faceplate.

The element that I’m most excited about, though, is the fact that it cements him as a Deathwatch Keeper. While they’re a slightly more obscure element of Deathwatch lore, Keepers are awesome, and, between the Aquila faceplate and the book at his belt firmly establish him as a viable model for the role.

The next model is Eryk “Phantom” Sylven of the Night Talons chapter.

I didn’t really have much room for conversion on this model and, honestly, I didn’t really want to convert him. He’s simply gorgeous, in my opinion. The only thing I changed was his Chapter shoulder pad, giving him the Blood Ravens pad from the box with the blood drop shaved off, to differentiate his Chapter from their parent Chapter.

One thing I do have to say is that, unlike the other models you see here, I have a bit of a vignette worked up displaying Phantom in combat. I have some additional point of view segments I need to add and, as it features what is perhaps the most prominent character in Khorne’s Eternal Hunt, it is pending approval from Kraut Scientist. As soon as I have the green light from him, you’ll have it.

Third, we have what is possibly my favorite vanilla model of the box, the Dark Angel.

For this guy, I wanted to replicate a Chapter that had stuck out to me the first time I flipped through the 6th Edition Dark Angels Codex and that still is one of the coolest Space Marine color schemes in my mind – the Guardians of the Covenant.

Now, I feel like I was able to reasonably approximate what a Guardians of the Covenant Deathwatch Marine would look like in my model, christened Michael Garyos.

My sole issue with the model is that he appears to be firing his weapon randomly to the side, rather than deliberately aiming it. Then again, maybe he’s just as good as Hawkeye from the Avengers?

Regardless, I’m very happy with how Michael turned out.

I’m especially pleased with the robes, which were my first forays into the worlds of layering paints and mixing paints. They feel a little close to Mechanicus robes, but I think the rest of the model is sufficiently not-Mechanicus-y that it isn’t an issue.

Finally for you today, we have the Terminator, whom I have dubbed Wyvernus Broilflame of the Hydragons Chapter.

The Hydragons are a Chapter my younger brother created for his character in the RPG Deathwatch. While I may be posting a more in depth description of them in the future, suffice it to say that they really like fire. For comparison purposes, next to the Hydragons, the Salamanders aren’t even mild pyromaniacs (there was one Tech-Marine, for instance, who modified a set of lightning claws to set themselves on fire during combat. The weapon now sees widespread use.)

Unfortunately, I lacked any sort of useful Terminator bits, so the model is entirely vanilla. If you have any that you’d like to donate for a redesign, feel free to let me know. 😉

Without further ado, the plastic.

My absolute favorite part of what I’ve done with the model is the flame on its back. Somehow (don’t ask me, because I didn’t even realize I’d done it until afterwards) I managed to get a smooth blend from blue to green along the flame which doesn’t communicate terribly well over the pictures (what I do know is that I painted the whole flame green and then the base blue, and that after I noticed the effect, I drybrushed silver over the top to cement it). I’m just happy with the effect it creates of being an unorthodox chemical fire, and, hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

I’m also very happy with the way the flamer muzzle and melta barrel came out. I feel like I managed to make them look suitably charred for weapons that see constant use.

As far as Warhammer 40k goes, I don’t know if I’ve been this excited in a very long time.

As always, comments, suggestions, praise, and criticism are welcome. Every word that helps improve my models is a good word, so don’t hesitate.

Expect more models of this nature in the near future, and (hopefully) fluff to go with them!